INDIA needed such a campaign decades ago -- when the larger society realised that countless numbers of young people were falling prey to different addictions, including tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. Elders often gave meek advice to young people to stay away from addictions. There were a few legal provisions, too, making trafficking of intoxicating materials an offence. Yet, there was no concerted effort to help- young people to steer clear of the vice. But now has come the Prime Minister’s ‘Nasha Mukt Yuva’ campaign that Mr. Narendra Modi launched with much fanfare. There is every reason now to believe that the campaign would be strong enough and thrustful enough to drive home the essential wisdom of a life without any sort addiction -- particularly in young age. For, as the idea goes, once the young people stay clear of such vices in impressionable age, then the danger of them falling prey to the temptation later is minimised to a great extent.

 

‘The Hitavada’ supports this Nasha Mukt Yuva campaign wholeheartedly and dreams of a time when Indian youth is free from any sort of addiction and live a truly healthy, meaningful and creative life -- which any sort of addiction impedes. The thrust of the Nasha Mukt Yuva is on drug abuse (or substance abuse). The larger society has been facing this challenge for decades but has not been able to build a strong social resistance to wean young people away from the vice. In the past some decades, organised crime networks, too, have come up everywhere in the country -- and are run efficiently by the drug lords with the help of patronage of different powerful lobbies in the country. Every now and then, the Police and Anti-Narcotic agencies launch drives to defeat the drug lords -- and claim success to whatever extent. The media, too, keeps making piecemeal efforts to expose drug-related crimes.

 

Even in schools and colleges, not much focused and systematic effort is visible to protect the children from addiction to drugs or alcohol or even tobacco. There are only apologies to law to prevent the spread of materials that can cause addiction -- so much so that the laws have not been able to prevent opening of shops selling banned substances in the vicinity of educational institutions. Even as we express our full support to the Nasha Mukt Yuva campaign, we insist that success of the campaign against substance abuse can succeed only when the larger society commits itself to fighting the vice to the last. The entire society would have to take the pledge against substance abuse and take part in the campaign actively and proactively. The road ahead in this effort would be arduous, all right. But if the larger society commits itself to doing the right thing, then the fight against substance abuse can succeed. It must be noted that this fight would have no destination as such.

 

It will have to be an ongoing fight of the larger society to keep itself and its youth free from the vice of substance abuse. Even as the larger society takes its own steps to fight the menace, the Government will have to ensure that no entity is allowed to enter the drugs-racketeering as business. It will have to deal with the crime with an uncompromisingly heavy hand. The Government will also have to launch a social campaign against substance abuse and enlist the support of all counselors and the entire medical fraternity whose members could enjoy a reasonable influence on young minds. The most unfortunate aspect of substance abuse scenario is that drugs and such substances are available in the society almost easily. This should be treated as a failure of the official agencies tasked to curb the menace. Their organisations and systems will have to be refurbished completely and be filled with people who must be personally committed to defeating drug menace -- though some may tend to describe the task as impossible. There is no doubt that the task is difficult, but it would be within the reach of the larger society if it commits itself to fighting the menace without fear or favour.